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I had the good fortune to avoid Thanksgiving travel that involved any contact with the TSA, but I realize that others were not so lucky. For those of you who had to choose between the full-body scanner and the TSA employee pat-down this past weekend, The New Yorker has compiled several decades' worth of airport security cartoons from its issues.

Recently, the Ninth Circuit granted C-SPAN's request to televise the December 6 Proposition 8 hearing. Coverage will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, December 6. The entire first hour of the hearing will be devoted to considering the question of whether Prop. 8's sponsors or Imperial County have standing to appeal Judge Walker's N.D. Cal. ruling.

I was helping a student with a research project the other day and she said, "What am I going to do after I graduate when I need research help?" I reminded her that she will still have access to the law library after she graduates and told her that she can still call us for research guidance. She seemed surprised, but the research librarians assist alumni with research questions on a daily basis. Of course, we have to ensure that the research needs of our current students and faculty are met first, and we can't give alumni access to Lexis and Westlaw, but all of the research librarians are happy to provide research tips to our alumni. We recognize that not every workplace is fortunate enough to have its own law librarian, and we want our alumni to succeed, especially during their first years of practice.

Professor Richard Leo appeared on Frontline's November 9 program, The Confessions, which chronicles the ordeal of four men wrongfully convicted of murder, The Norfolk Four. Professor Leo is the co-author of a book about The Norfolk Four case, The Wrong Guys. You can read a longer interview with Professor Leo about The Norfolk Four case on the Frontline website.

Recently the Zief Law Library was contacted by the San Francisco Opera regarding their production of the Makropulos Case, a Czech opera featuring the Finnish soprano Karita Mattila. They were in need of law books for the set of their production which premiers tonight, November 10, 2010. So, the ever helpful Zief team donated withdrawn and discarded books to this worthy cause. Can you find the reporters and other legal publications in the photo below?

Now we are able to report a new addition to enlightened jurisprudence: a case from the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas that cites to a sketch by Monty Python. In footnote 69 of a decision authored by US Magistrate Judge Stephen Smith (available as a .pdf file from the ACLU at this link) the court makes a parallel between the ability of law enforcement agents to track the target of an investigation using cell phone location data with the demise of Mr. Nesbitt in the famous "How Not To Be Seen" sketch that appeared in both Episode 24 of Monty Python's Flying Circus and in slightly different form in the film Now For Something Completely Different. Legal researchers who want to view the sketch should go to YouTube and search for "Monty Python" and "How Not To Be Seen" or try this link. Thanks to USF Professor Susan Freiwald for bringing this to our attention.

NYT's City Blog had an interesting post last week about pro athletes who transitioned from locker rooms to law firms. Not surprisingly, a lot of ex-athletes end up as litigators, including Kevin Clauson, a former pro hockey player who received over 80 stitches during just one hockey season. I'd say he's comfortable with conflict.